Sister Joan Chittister famously said, "We are each called to go through life reclaiming the planet an inch at a time until the Garden of Eden grows green again." Reflecting on that journey -- a blog at a time -- is the focus of this site.

Friday, November 09, 2012

It has been a journey

I write this on a plane somewhere over “the middle.” I am eastward bound for a weekend of celebrating the work and witness of Bishop Gene Robinson on the occasion of his retirement as the Ninth Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of New Hampshire. And as I made my way to the gate this morning for the obscenely early (AKA “o’dark thirty”) transcontinental flight, I had flashbacks of the ghosts of the multiple dozens of times I have run the TSA gauntlet, queued up at Starbucks and then wedged myself into (hopefully) a window seat headed to an event, conference, caucus, convention or celebration over the last nine years.

It has been a journey.

I remember a trip to Oakland in early 2003. It was a meeting of the Steering Committee of “Claiming the Blessing (CTB)” – the coalition committed to “healing the rift between spirituality and sexuality and securing liturgical rites for the blessing of same-sex relationships in the Episcopal Church.” Gene Robinson – then “Canon Robinson” – was with us as we met to debrief the national conference we’d held in St. Louis in November 2002 and work on finalizing the Theology Statement we were publishing in response to the oft-heard challenge that we “hadn’t done the theology.” It was at that meeting that Gene let us know that he was allowing his name to go forward in the election process in New Hampshire … and while no one could predict what the Holy Spirit would do we needed to be thinking ahead to what our work would look like if we ended up going to General Convention in Minneapolis with both blessings and a bishop on our “to do” list.

I remember a trip to Texas later that year. Part of our CTB work was getting our theology statement into the hands of as many bishops and deputies as possible ahead of convention. Against many odds and due to the valiant work of dedicated diocesan activists I was given an “episcopal audience.” The one caveat was that I couldn’t tell anyone that we were meeting – and I had to park in the alley and come up the freight elevator … and then let the Canon to the Ordinary check the lobby outside the bishop’s office to make sure it was “clear” lest word get out he was meeting with me. We met. We talked. We did not get his vote.

I remember a trip to Maryland for another kind of “closed door” meeting. It’s one I’ve written about before, but can’t resist telling the story again. It was after Gene’s election on June 7 and before General Convention convened and it was a “called meeting” between the leadership of Integrity and the AAC (American Anglican Council.) Michael Hopkins was then Integrity president and I was the director of communication … and we met in his office at St. George’s in Glen Dale, Maryland with David Anderson (AAC’s president) and their communication guy Bruce Mason.

In the course of that meeting we compared numbers (they actually thought we had more votes than we thought we did), talked about outcomes (would we “trade the bishop for the blessings?”) and … in a moment I will never forget as long as God gives me memory … I asked David (who had been a clergy colleague of mine in Los Angeles for many years) to help me understand why this issue was THE issue that was worth splitting the church over after we’d survived the civil rights struggles, liturgical fights and the ordination of women battles.

“Because,” David said – as the early summer sunshine streamed into Michael’s office – “genital activity is so important to God that He was put a fence around it … and the only thing inside the fence is one man and one woman within the sacrament of matrimony. Anything else is contrary to God’s will and for the church to bless it puts the church outside of the fence, too.” He had me at “genital activity is so important to God.” I told Michael later – over a dinner that started with martinis and ended with red meat – that I had first year EfM students who could adequately rebut David’s foundational argument. And I flew home convinced that if that was the best they could do we were indeed going to prevail with both our bishop and our blessings.

I remember the trip to Minneapolis for General Convention 2003 and the rollercoaster ride of the consents to Gene’s election – as well as the adoption of Resolution C051: recognizing that blessings “fall within the bounds of our common faith.” I remember the trip to New Hampshire for Gene’s consecration in November 2003 – with the media circus, the metal detectors and the bomb sniffing dogs outside the hockey arena-turned-cathedral.

I remember several trips “across the pond” to connect and collaborate with wider Anglican Communion allies. In 2004 there was the “Halfway to Lambeth” Conference in Manchester, England and the “Justice is Orthodox Theology” Conference in Atlanta, Georgia. There were “big meetings” with the Anglican Communion Office and the “Listening Process” folks and the literally countless “small meetings” in parish halls, undercrofts, hotel ballrooms and lecture halls where over and over and OVER again we made the case for inclusion, we shared “the theology” and we told our stories.

I remember the 2005 trip to Nottingham, England to the meeting the Anglican Consultative Council as part of the official Episcopal Church “Response to The Windsor Report” delegation -- with Frank Griswold, Neil Alexander, Cathy Roskam, Charles Jenkins, Jane Tully and Michael Battle. I remember the 2006 trip to Columbus where the same Frank Griswold who championed inclusion with “To Set Our Hope on Christ” caved to homophobia with B033: the resolution that prioritized sending bishops to Lambeth over protecting the vocations of the LGBT baptized. I remember the 2008 trip to New Hampshire for one of the most singular honors of my life: being asked to be the preacher at the blessing of the Civil Union of Mark Andrew and Gene Robinson.

I remember the trip to Canterbury for the Lambeth Conference: what I’ve come to think of as a month-long course of reparative therapy curing forever any lingering bit of Anglophilia I had left and convincing me once-and-for all that the tea in the Boston Harbor was the smartest thing we ever did.

I remember numerous trips between 2009-2012 as part of the SCLM Blessings Task Force as we worked to “collect and develop” theological and liturgical resources for the blessing of same-gender relationships -- as charged by General Convention 2009. And I certainly remember the trip to Indianapolis last July -- where ten years after the Claiming the Blessing crew began its quest, the Episcopal Church approved (by an overwhelming margin, I might note) a liturgical rite of the blessing of same-sex relationships.

It has been a journey.

And while of course it isn’t over yet, as I head east to celebrate Gene Robinson’s retirement in 2012 I look out from my window seat at a landscape vastly different from the one I flew over on my way to his consecration in 2003. I look out at a country where not only has a president “evolved” on marriage equality but three states just voted it in, the courts continue to rule against DOMA (the so-called “Defense of Marriage Act”) and the very real hope of genuine civil marriage equality is in sight. I look out at a church where we may not yet have “healed the rift between sexuality and spirituality” but we have found our way past the “inclusion wars” and are shifting our energy and resources to focus on who will come rather than worrying about who might leave if we welcome everyone.

All of that and more I bring with me on this trip that started at o’dark-thirty from LAX -- along with an overwhelming sense of the privilege it is to be part of this chapter of the unfolding story that some call “salvation history” and others “the arc of the moral universe bending toward justice.”

It hasn’t always been easy – and I suspect on Judgment Day we may have some accounting to do in the carbon footprint department. But when it comes to the “inasmuch as you’ve done it unto the least of these” part, I’m ready..

I am ready because I believe with deep certainty that one thing we will not hear from our Lord are the words “inasmuch as you kept genital activity inside the fence ...” Seriously!

Instead, these are the things I believe are “so important to God:”.

“I was hungry for the Gospel and you fed me;”
“I was thirsty for the living water and you baptized me;”
“I was imprisoned by homophobia and you liberated me;”
“I was naked with shame and you clothed me with love;”
“I was a stranger at the gate and you welcomed me.”.

Wonderfully informative reflection on the progress in recent years - and the hard work it has taken. Thank you for the work you have put in.

From the other side of the pond, and in the Catholic rather than Anglican communion, it's a salutary lesson in the mountain we have still to climb - but the Holy Spirit has means to accomplish her goals.

Thanks so much for joining our celebrtions yesterday, and for your presence at our other significant celebrations on this far side of "the middle." Hope your journey back across the country is smooth. Blessings--

Welcome to my blog ...

... where I try to be really clear about what I'm clear about. For example:

Religious persecution is when you're prevented from exercising your beliefs, not when you're prevented from IMPOSING your beliefs.

========

Until we end the blatant and indefensible discrimination of DOMA we are not living up to the pledge we make to be a nation of liberty and justice for all, we are not providing the equal protection guaranteed by the 14th Amendment to same-sex couples and we are failing to defend the self-evident truth that our forbearers fought to protect: that ALL people are created equal.

============ Using "biblical standards" to condemn those who understand that sexual orientation is morally neutral makes as much sense as using "biblical standards" to condemn astronomers who understand that the earth revolves around the sun. The Bible may have said it but that doesn't always settle it. ============ It's liberty and justice for all -- not some. It's respect the dignity of every human being -- not just straight ones. Got it? Great. Let's do it.

====== In order to keep moving forward toward liberty and justice for all we can't just be right about what the 1st Amendment protects. We have to be smart about how we respond to those who skipped the 9th Commandment and think lying is a Traditional Family Value. ======= Jesus said "Love your neighbor." Not "Love your neighbor unless your neighbor is gay."

Basic Bio

A cradle Episcopalian second generation Dodger fan ENFJ native of Los Angeles I was ordained in 1996 and currently serve as a Senior Associate at All Saints Church, Pasadena.
My family consists of my wife Lori, 2 dogs, (Hillary & Chelsea), 3 cats (Maui, Cherokee and Harold) and our four young adult kids: Jim (married to the awesome Kelly), Brian, Grace and Emily.
My life in the church has included everything from Junior Altar Guild with my Aunt Gretchen to my “obligatory young adult lapsed phase” to a tour of duty on the St. Paul’s, Ventura vestry where I also worked as parish secretary to a life-heart-soul changing experience as part of the Cursillo community to serving on my parish ECW Board to seminary at the School of Theology in Claremont to associate/day school chaplain positions at St. Mark’s, Altadena and St. Peter’s, San Pedro to Executive Director of Claiming the Blessing to my current parish position at All Saints Church. It’s been a long and winding road and the journey continues: an inch at a time.

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DISCLAIMER

This blog is the personal weblog of one Susan Lynn Russell. The opinions expressed herein are hers and hers alone. The postions taken on matters theological or political (or anything else, for that matter) are in no way to be construed as the official positions of any other person, institution, group or organization.

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“Faith in action is called politics. Spirituality without action is fruitless and social action without spirituality is heartless. We are boldly political without being partisan. Having a partisan-free place to stand liberates the religious patriot to see clearly, speak courageously, and act daringly.” -- Ed Bacon

“Power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice. Justice at its best is love correcting everything that stands against love.” – Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

"It's time for "tolerant" religious people to acknowledge the straight line between the official anti-gay theologies of their denominations and the deaths of these young people. Nothing short of changing our theology of human sexuality will save these young and precious lives." -- The Rt Rev Gene Robinson

"How can you initiate someone into the Body of Christ and then treat them like they’re half-assed baptized?" - The Rt Rev Barbara Harris

“I swore never to be silent whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation. We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.” ~ Elie Wiesel, 1986 Nobel Peace Prize

"Resolve to be tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving and tolerant with the weak and wrong. Sometime in your life, you will have been all of these." — Siddhārtha Gautama

"I'm so glad Mary didn't wait for the formulation of a Doctrine of the Incarnation before she said 'Yes' to God." -- Ed Bacon

"The great Easter truth is not that we will be born again someday but that we are to be alive here and now by the power of the resurrection." -- Philips Brooks (paraphrase)

"History belongs to the intercessors, who believe the future into being.” -- Walter Wink

“Patience, a quality of holiness may be sloth in the soul when associated with the lack of righteous indignation.” -- Abraham Heschel

"Don't tell me what you believe. Tell me what difference it makes that you believe!" -- Verna Dozier

“We establish no religion in this country, we command no worship, we mandate no belief. Nor will we ever. Church and state are, and must remain, separate. All are free to believe or not believe, all are free to practice a faith or not, and those who believe are free and should be free, to speak of and act on their belief. At the same time as our constitution prohibits state religion, establishment of it protects the free exercise of all religions. And walking this fine line requires government to be strictly neutral.” -- Ronald Reagan

Let's be clear. The fact that the State authorizes a marriage in no way compels any Church to perform or recognize it. Marriage equality merely guarantees equality under the law to all citizens; it does not compel churches to do anything.-- Katherine Ragsdale